![And He said, My presence shall go [with you,] and I will give you rest. Exo. 33:14](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/And-He-said-My-presence-shall-go-with-you-and-I-will-give-you-rest-1024x576.jpg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1 "And He said, My presence shall go [with you,] and I will give you rest. Exo. 33:14")
In order for us believers in Christ to possess and walk in the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land, we need to see that the presence of the Lord means everything to us both in our life in the Lord and in our work in the Lord; we want to have not only His help and blessing but even more, His presence, His smile. Amen!
As we are prayerfully considering the matter of the governing principles that we need to see and experience in order to possess Christ as the good land, we need to realize that the good land given to us is the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound, sevenfold intensified Spirit who is our portion in our spirit. Amen!
Our Christian life is a matter of enjoying this Spirit with our spirit, living in the Spirit with our spirit, and doing all things in the mingled spirit.
When we live in our mind or in our flesh, we have no enjoyment of Christ as the Spirit in our spirit to be the reality of the good land.
Christ is real to us in the mingled spirit; we need to live in another realm day by day, a realm where Christ is everything to us.
Our Christian life needs to be a life in the mingled spirit.
This means that day by day we need to keep tuning to our spirit, enjoying the Lord in spirit, and living in the mingled spirit.
This is on the personal side.
On the corporate side, we need to see that the Christ we enjoy and partake of, the Christ we need to walk in, is the corporate Christ, the Body-Christ, Christ the Head with the Body of Christ.
If we enjoy Christ, we also enjoy being with the saints in the Body.
If we enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive Christ in our spirit, we also enjoy the fellowship with the members of the Body of Christ, for in this fellowship we have even more enjoyment of Christ.
Paul prayed in Eph. 3:16-20 a marvellous prayer, asking the Father to strengthen the saints through His Spirit according to the riches of His glory into their inner man so that Christ may make His home in their heart.
But he did not stop here.
The purpose of us enjoying Christ making His home in our heart and filling us with Himself is not so that we may be individual Christians who are shining and spiritual; it is so that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth, length, height, and depth are, and to enjoy the inexhaustible Christ in the Body.
Yes, our personal enjoyment of Christ is very rich, for He is so real and full of riches toward us.
But corporately, when we come together, we enjoy even more of Christ, and we walk in the Christ, the One who is both the Head and the Body of Christ. Amen!
The Presence of the Lord Means Everything to us in our Life and Work in the Lord
Having received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, we today want to walk in Him. We possess and walk in the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land by realizing that the presence of the Lord means everything to us.
The Lord’s presence is His smile, His instant being with us, His smiling presence in our spirit.
The presence of the Lord means everything to us in our personal life with the Lord and in our work in the Lord.
A pattern in having the Lord’s presence and being in the Lord’s presence is Moses; in Exo. 33:12-17 Moses bargained with God for His presence to go with him and with God’s people.
God told him that He would go with them, and Moses responded by saying, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
If we do not have the Lord’s presence, no matter what success we have, it amounts to nothing, for we do not have the presence of the Lord.
Abraham was one who lived in God’s presence, taking the presence of God as his map, his living map in walking in the good land that was promised to him and to his descendants.
Today the presence of the Lord is His way for us to walk, the map that shows us, His people, the way that we should take.
In our Christian life, our daily living and our work with and in the Lord should be governed not by right or wrong, success, or the best way to take to do things, but by the presence of the Lord.
The presence of the Lord means everything to us in our life and in our work.
In Psa. 51, a psalm of repentance by David, we see that he wanted to gain the Lord’s presence, for he realized that, when he lost God’s presence, he lost everything.
For us to obtain God’s presence or regain His presence, we need to confess our sins under His shining and repent.
When we lose the Lord’s presence, we lose everything, but when we have the Lord’s presence, we have everything.
We may say that, since we have Christ in us, we also have His presence; however, there is a difference between the Lord being with us and His presence being with us.
For example, we may travel somewhere with a group of friends, and we may take the same train, but one or more of our friends may be in a different car than us, for they may have a problem with the rest of the group.
We get the same train, we travel in the same direction, and we get to the same place at the same time, but we don’t have their presence.
They are with us, but their presence is not with us.
Similarly, the Lord may be with us, and He definitely is with us, for He is in our spirit, but His presence may not be with us.
The Lord may be imprisoned in our spirit, and we take Him with us wherever we go, but we may not have His smile.
We travel in the same direction, we have the same destination, but we may not have His presence.
Many times we know that the Lord is with us, but we may not have His presence.
He may help us and He may even give us certain blessings, but His presence is not with us.
His smile is not with us, and we can clearly sense within that the Lord is not happy with us. Oh, Lord Jesus!
We may receive the Lord’s help, but we may lose His presence. Wow!
We want not only the Lord’s help but even more, we want the presence of the Lord.
We covet not only the Lord’s blessing, as good as it is, but the sweet smile of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, for His presence means everything to us.
The Lord lives in us, and He will go wherever we go, but is His presence going with us?
Many times the Lord may help us, but He may not be happy with us.
This means that we need to be governed not by outward success or blessing but by having the Lord’s direct, firsthand presence with us.
For example, we may be accepted into a certain university to study, but we sense that the Lord is not happy with us going and studying there; we have a choice: do we choose to have the Lord’s smile or do we choose what we naturally desire in this situation?
We may get a promotion at work with a lot of responsibilities and a better salary, but the Lord may not be happy with this in our being.
May we be those who are governed by the Lord’s firsthand presence in our spirit, not by anything in our environment.
The presence of the Lord, His smile, is the governing principle for us to enter into and possess Christ as the reality of the good land.
God’s presence is the living map, the way, that shows us, His people, the way that we should take.
We need to have the smile of the Lord, His presence. His presence is our real GPS, our God’s Presence Satellite.
It is good to tell the Lord again and again throughout the day,
Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your presence. Your presence means everything to us in our life in the Lord and in our work in the Lord. We do not want only Your help or Your blessing; we want to have Your smile. Oh Lord, may Your presence be with us today. May Your presence go with us where we need to go, and may Your presence be with us where we are. We want to do everything in Your presence, one with You. If Your presence does not go with us, we do not want to go. If Your presence is not with us as we speak something, we want to stop speaking. Your presence is everything to us. Oh Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your presence. May Your presence govern us and lead us into the enjoyment and possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land. We want to have the firsthand presence of the Lord, the direct presence of God!
The Lord’s Presence Guides us by His Shining Word and His Leading Spirit in our Christian Life
When we say that the presence of the Lord means everything to us we do not mean that, somehow in a mysterious way, we sense the “presence” of God, and this is what we want to do all day long.
Rather, as seen in the type in Exo. 13:21-22, the Lord’s presence is His shining in His word and His leading by His Spirit.
According to the picture in Exodus, the presence of the Lord went before the children of Israel by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might go by day and by night.
Neither the pillar of cloud nor the pillar of fire departed from before the people.
In typology, the cloud signifies the Spirit (see 1 Cor. 10:1-2), and the fire – which enlightens to lead the way – signifies the Word of God (see Psa. 119:105; Jer. 23:29).
This shows us that the instant, living leading from the presence of God comes through either the Spirit or the Word.
The presence of the Lord means everything to us in our Christian life and work.
The Lord’s presence is made real to us and guides us in our daily living by His shining in His word and by His leading in His Spirit.
The two pillars symbolize God Himself, for He is both the Spirit and the Word (John 4:24; 1:1); furthermore, the Word is also the Spirit (6:3; Eph. 6:17).
In other words, God to us is the Word and the Spirit, and it is by means of the Word and the Spirit that He leads us, He shines on us, and He is real to us. God, the Word, and the Spirit are one to lead and guide us continually, whether by day or by night.
In our Christian life, there is no difference between day and night, for the light from the pillar of fire causes the night to become day. Hallelujah!
We may be in darkness, and the whole environment around us may be full of darkness, but when we pray-read the Word of God, we have the Lord’s instant leading, and the presence of the Lord is with us.
In our daily lives we encounter darkness everywhere, and many times we find ourselves in darkness even in our being, for we may drift away from the Lord’s presence.
We may have a sweet time with the Lord in the morning, but by lunchtime, we may no longer be in the Lord’s presence, for we had to take care of this and that, and we lost touch with the Lord.
The Lord is still in us, in our spirit, but we do not have His presence.
We need to come back to the Lord again and again, repenting for losing His presence and asking Him to cause His face to shine on us and give us peace.
In all things we need to remain in the Lord’s presence and inquire of Him.
![Your word is a lamp to my feet / And a light to my path. Psa. 119:105 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:63 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God. Eph. 6:17](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Your-word-is-a-lamp-to-my-feet-And-a-light-to-my-path-1-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Your word is a lamp to my feet / And a light to my path. Psa. 119:105 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:63 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which [Spirit] is the word of God. Eph. 6:17")
We may be puzzled and even depressed to see that evil people thrive and prosper while we as righteous ones are suffering and lacking; we simply need to enter into the sanctuary of God, our spirit and the meetings of the church, and we will have the presence of the Lord.
When we have the presence of God, we have everything, and everything is clear to us when we’re in His presence.
Exodus also shows us that Christ as the Angel of God was the One who was leading the people.
When the Angel of God moved, the pillar moved also, showing that the Angel and the pillar were one.
Christ and the leading Spirit cannot be separated (Exo. 14:19; John 14:17-20; 16:13; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 5:6).
He leads us by means of His Spirit and His shining Word. Furthermore, whenever those who follow the Lord face opposition, the guiding light spontaneously becomes the protecting light (Exo. 14:20).
On one hand, He guides us; on the other hand, His shining becomes a protection to us.
To the opposers, however, this protecting light becomes darkness.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we love Your presence. We come to You in Your word to have Your shining and we exercise our spirit to follow the Spirit’s leading. Shine on us through Your word. Enlighten us concerning our situation and our condition, and lead us by Your Spirit in all things. Amen, Lord, be so real to us as we come to Your word. We don’t want to merely receive more knowledge about God; we want to enjoy Your presence and have Your smile. May we have Your living leading through the Spirit and the Word. Hallelujah, the Lord today is the Spirit, and the Spirit leads us in all things. Praise the Lord for His living word, which shines with fresh, new light every time we come to the Lord in His word. Amen, Lord, shine on us through Your word and lead us by the Spirit in all things! Shine and dispel all our darkness and keep us in Your living light day by day!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, The All-inclusive Christ, chs. 10-11, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good land for the Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, for the Reality and the Manifestation of the Kingdom, and for the Bride to make Herself Ready for the Lord’s Coming (2023 Winter Training), week 10, entitled, Governing Principles That We Need to See and Experience in Order to Possess Christ as the Good Land.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Following the Star out of Jacob led me to the Lord and the Church Life, via, Living to Him.
– Enjoying the riches of Christ by pray-reading the Word and praying in the Spirit, a portion from, The All-Inclusiveness and Unlimitedness of Christ, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
– In the Cloud for the Lord’s Presence, via, New Jerusalem blog.
– If We Have the Lord’s Presence, a new song via, Hymnal.net.
– Not religion but the living Christ, a portion from, The All-Inclusiveness and Unlimitedness of Christ, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee.
– The Source of Authority—The Lord’s Presence, a portion from Shepherding Words.
– My Personal Testimony – Pursuing Christ, Living the Church Life, and Enjoying the Ministry, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Applying the Lord’s presence, a portion from, Christ versus Religion, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
– Day by day we must be in the presence of the Lord to bring our needs and all the brothers’ and unbelievers’ needs to Him, a quote via, Conversant Faith. - Hymns on this topic:
– I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
– Divine anointing in me dwelleth, / And it teaches me all things; / It ever leads me in the Lord to live / And to me His presence brings. / In my spirit the anointing dwells, / O the anointing dwells and / teaches everything; / In my spirit the anointing dwells / And ever teaches everything. (Hymns #266 stanza 1 and chorus)
– For my words I take His wisdom, / For my works His Spirit’s power; / For my ways His ceaseless presence / Guards and guides me every hour. / Of my heart, He is the portion, / Of my joy the boundless spring; / Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, / Glorious Lord, and coming King. / I’m abiding in the Lord / And confiding in His word; / I am hiding in the bosom of His love. / Yes, abiding in the Lord / And confiding in His word, / I am hiding in the bosom of His love. (Hymns #564 stanza 4 and chorus)
About aGodMan
The All-inclusive Christ, pp. 120-121, by Witness Lee
For us to possess and walk in the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land, we need to see that the Lord’s presence means everything to us both in our life in the Lord and our work in the Lord.
We may have His help and His blessing, and He may be with us, but His presence, His smile, may not be with us.
Oh Lord! May we enjoy the Lord in His word as light and in the Spirit as the cloud with His leading, and may we have His presence day by day!
Praise the Lord for His precious presence! Individuality and corporatively we don’t want to lose His presence which is everything to us.
Aaaaameeen! Yes Lord!
The presence, the smile of the Lord, is the governing principle for us to enter and possess Christ as the reality of the good land!
Amen. Lord give us eyes that see only You!
God, the Word and the Spirit are all one to lead & guide us continually.
However, God’s leading isn’t the same as His presence.
We shouldn’t be content to merely have God’s leading.
We should long for His presence. God’s “presence” is with us when God is pleased & satisfied with us.
When we are one spirit with Jesus, then His presence is with us.
Exo. 33:14-15 And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
Exo. 13:21 And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might go by day and by night.
Praise the Lord! 😃🙌🙋🏼
https://youtu.be/bCmL5HP4EkI?si=iFoYgmXyCae1wS_m
The governing principle in our move to enjoy Christ as the good land is God’s presence.
For us as Christians, day and night are the same – for God, the Spirit and the Word, the reality of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night – are the same.
Like Moses we only want to brought to a place where we might go only if His presence goes with us.
It is possible He will go with us, but because He is not happy we would not have His presence.
5/31/24 Governing Principles That We Need to See and Experience in Order to Possess Christ as the Good Land (Week 10, Day 5)
We have seen that the way to enter the good land is by enjoying Christ step by step in an ever increasing measure, starting from the lamb of the passover in Egypt, the heavenly manna and the cleft rock in the wilderness, the tabernacle, etc. But there is something in our experience that is still more vital to us, that is, the governing principles, the governing factors.
We have seen that to possess the good land, to enter into the all-inclusiveness of Christ, cannot be accomplished by an individual person but only by a collective people. As a collective people, there is the need of some governing principles to maintain order in their entering and possessing the good land.
The first governing principle is the presence of the Lord, typified by the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire at the time of Moses (Exo 13:21). According to Exodus 33:14, the Lord promised Moses, “And He said, My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Then, Moses bargained with God, “And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.”
Because of Moses’ demand, the Lord’s presence went with Moses and the children of Israel in their journeys from one place to another. The Lord’s presence was in the pillar of cloud during the day and in the pillar of fire during the night. In typology:
a.) the cloud ~ signifies the Spirit (1Cor 10:1-2), and
b.) the fire ~ signifies the Word of God for enlightenment (Psa 119:105).
The Lord’s presence is in the Spirit and in His Word. Actually, God, the Spirit, and the Word are one (John 4:24; 1:1; John 6:63; Eph 6:17). On the one hand, God, as the Spirit is in our spirit (1Cor 3:16); on the other hand, He is in the Word (John 1:1; 6:63).
Numbers 9:15-17 tell us, “And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony; and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning. So it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel encamped.”
This shows us that whenever the pillar of cloud settled in a certain place, the children of Israel would encamp in that place and pitch the tabernacle in that place. But when the pillar of cloud started moving put, the children of Israel would also set out. This portrays to us that whenever we have some activity or move in the church, we must first seek for the Lord’s presence.
The Lord’s presence is through His Spirit and His Word. The Lord’s presence is always in these two things, either in the Spirit or in the Word. When we are clear, we can realize that He is in the Spirit. When we are in darkness, we can see Him in the Word. He is always in these two: in the Spirit and in the Word.
In the day, when it is clear, we have the Spirit as the cloud; in the night, when it is dark, we have the Word as the fire. We can follow the Lord by His presence in the Spirit and in the Word. When we have the Lord’s presence, we shall see the smile of His glorious face in our spirit.
Therefore, in order for us to fully gain and posses Christ as the all-inclusive Land for God’s Building, we must learn to be kept, to be ruled, to be governed, and to be guided by the direct, firsthand presence of the Lord. If we have the Lord’s presence, we have wisdom, insight, foresight, and inner knowledge concerning things. The Lord’s presence is everything to us.
[HWMR-Week 10 Day 5]
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYEQuSsWzIQ
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v4ynlve-the-presence-of-the-lord-means-everything-to-us.html
Amen Lord we need Your presence 🙏
The smile of the Lord is a real thing. It is not simply a euphemism. Late last summer He revealed Himself to me in a vision. I wasn’t praying at the time and certainly had not asked for it, but there He was, suddenly before me, with the most beautiful, glorious, amazing smile.
“So,” you might ask, “Why would our Lord reveal Himself and His glorious smile to you, sister?”
To this I have no answer. Perhaps He reveals Himself and smiles at many, but they do not report it. Or, maybe He showed me because He knew I would.
Here is the takeaway: His smile is real and it is beautiful, as is He. Though I saw it, I realized it was not for me alone, but for the Church, and for those who would receive it. His smile is both reward and encouragement.
Though this vision only lasted a matter of seconds, I know I can not wait to see our Lord again, to receive His smile, to take His hand and ever be present with Him through eternity.
Amen saints. May His face smile and be gracious unto us all.